Weening myself from technology

Growing up, my mind has been in a constant battle. I love the outdoors, survival techniques, roughin' it, and being as sustainable as possible, but yes, I also love technology. I love everything to do with the latest gadgets, and I grew up tinkering with everything from Radio Shack 150-in-1 Electronic Project Kits to classic cars.

But over the years, my desires have swayed much more towards the natural side of things. Luckily, I spend most of my imaginative energy thinking up ways to merge the two. This includes adapting old farm technology to modern sustainability practices, peppered with the latest gadgets and upgrades to make it all just work better. I think about this every day, and can't wait to finally implement it.

But this requires a filtering of this new technology. I don't believe that every modern machine is a good thing, and I really believe most of it is ruining us. Ironically enough, I write about video games and hi-tech gadgets for my day job, and it's really something that I don't see myself doing forever. But seeing this hi-tech side of things makes me only yearn more for the simpler side of things.

Lately, there's been this trend in the gaming and hi-tech world for malicious-minded people to hack into the accounts of gamers and tech-savvy people. The security of smartphones, computer networks, gaming accounts, and more are being compromised at an alarming rate, allowing cyber criminals (for lack of a better word) to steal personal information on these people. I've had three game accounts infiltrated in recent months, and just yesterday I discovered that another account was hacked, allowing these criminals to purchases hundreds of dollars of products with my bank account.

I won't really dwell on how much that knocks the wind out of your sails, but it DOES reinforce this deep desire I have to distance myself from being so connected to the internet world.

I'm fascinated by technology, but I don't NEED to have every latest gadget, and I think that self control really helps me put it all into perspective.

So as I look forward to inching closer and closer to buying my dream farm, I remind myself of why I'm doing this. It's not about dying with the most toys, it's about providing sustainability for the generations to come. I want my children to have food to eat that wasn't created in a lab, and I want them to have an appreciation for the way life was meant to be lived.